Suspects held for underage prostitution in Koh Samui

Jun 18. 2019

By The Nation

A man and a woman were arrested and hit with human-trafficking charges on Monday for allegedly running a brothel disguised as a karaoke bar and prostituting girls under the age of 18 in Surat Thani’s Koh Samui district.

Chaiyasit Nijkham, an 18-year-old ladyboy, and Sukanya Phadaeng, 28, were arrested in a sting operation in which undercover officers came to the bar as customers.

While at the bar, the officers were approached by the suspects who offered them the sexual services of three girls – all under 17 – in exchange for Bt6,000, said Royal Thai Police's Children, Youth and Women's Division superintendent Pol Colonel Damrongsak Onta who led the arresting team.

The suspects reportedly confessed to having run the bar and procuring teenage girls for prostitution for over a year.

The cost of sexual services was Bt2,000 per head, of which Bt300 went to the bar and the remainder was kept by the girl.

The suspects were hit with three charges, namely conspiring to commit a human-trafficking crime (by benefiting from underage prostitution); procuring girls over 15 but under 18 for prostitution; and violating the Child Protection Act (by compelling, threatening, inducing a child to conduct improper behaviour or wrongdoing).